The Bertrams were named Share Farmers of the Year at the Dairy Industry Awards on July 4.
The winners were announced digitally and they watched the awards with about 30 of their family and friends.
“It was really nice that we could share it with those people,” Rose said.
“There was a bit of disbelief that we pulled it off,” Nick said.
“Rose was pretty excited to have her name read out by the Prime Minister (Jacinda Ardern).”
Bay of Plenty’s Andre Meier became the Dairy Manager of the Year and Grace Gibberd from Waikato is the Dairy Trainee of the Year.
Nick was Dairy Manager of the Year in 2014 and runner-up in the Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Share Farmer category last year.
The couple believe their success is due to hard work and acting on the feedback received when Nick won the 2014 title.
“Winning that 2014 title, it gave us so much energy to focus on the next one and we’ve had a number of years to focus on it.”
The judges feedback identified the weaknesses in their business, allowing them to improve on these issues, he said.
“The bonus of that is that it’s made us better farmers, it’s made us better employers and helped us focus on the sharemilker contest.”
Nick, 33, and Rose, 27, are into their fourth season as 50:50 sharemilkers on Barry and Carol McNeil’s 150ha, 440-cow farm.
It is a dream job they would not have got without the 2014 win, Nick said.
It grows lots of grass, has a good layout and really good farm owners who let the Bertrams run the farm as if it was their own.
“That makes a massive difference,” Rose said.
They won four merit awards for pasture performance, leadership, interviewing and business performance.
Share Farmer head judge Jacqui Groves said the Bertrams impressed the judges by remaining true to their vision, their mission and values in life.
“They were high achievers in all areas.”
The runners-up were Waikato sharemilkers Aidan and Sarah Stevenson and Southland/Otago contract milkers Samuel and Karen Bennett were third.
Meier stood out as a quiet yet confident person who is very capable and connects with a wide range of people in the community.
The 30-year-old manages Ao Marama Farms on 250ha near Te Puke, milking 800 cows.
Dairy Manager head judge Mark Shadwick from DairyNZ said among strong finalists Meier stood out as proactive manager and leader who constantly seeks opportunities to grow and learn and helps others do the same.
“Andre is an all-rounder who has established himself as a successful dairy manager whose track record speaks for itself.
“He is involved in his community as chairman of the Te Puke Young Farmers, through his involvement in the A&P Show committee, as a Federated Farmers area rep and by hosting Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology students.”
The Dairy Manager runner-up was Paul Mercer from Manawatu and Waikato’s Daisy Higgs, 24, was third.
Judges predict Trainee of the Year Gibberd will be a great ambassador and role model for the dairy industry.
“Grace displayed an exceptional overall understanding of general knowledge and was clear, confident and articulate with her answers,” head judge Mark Nicholas said.
The 21-year-old has a passion for animals, people and her role as farm assistant on the 115ha DairyNZ property at Newstead, milking 360 cows.
She has sound knowledge and in-depth understanding across all four practical modules of pasture allocation requirements, drymatter conversions, condition scoring and her attention to health and safety is clearly evident and comprehensive.
The judges said finalists are passionate about higher education and are very well-rounded young men and women who possess a great understanding of national and global issues.
“It was remarkable to see how much the finalists appreciated their employers, their good working conditions and the amount of knowledge that other people in the industry were willing to share with them. The NZ dairy industry is in great shape with these young people coming through,” Nicholas said.
The runner-up is Sam Dodd from Taranaki and third placegetter is Tom Quinn, 24, from Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa.
